Terroirs Wine Bar & Restaurant

At first glance the grey facades of William IV Street in central London give no hint of the gem that is buried beneath the paving stones. Arriving in the packed pre-theatre hour we were led through the bustling upstairs bistro, down a non-descript staircase and into a quiet cellar of a room, suspecting that we had been dragged away from the fun of the top floor...

Read more at 30 Days of Food & Drink 2010

The Providores

The Providores popped into my life in the nick of time; just as brunch had begun to get boring. London is a city awash with generic morning menus and this mecca for early eaters brings imagination in spades.



Opened eight years ago by Kiwi chef Peter Gordon previously of Sugar Club fame, The Providores is housed unobtrusively behind a wooden framed shop front on Marylebone High Street. Having been told to expect a queue we arrived early and sure enough a line of hungry punters had already formed; this in a city bereft of patience is evidence of the delights within.

Step over the threshold and a high communal table forms the centrepiece. Smaller tables line the walls and even the bright bay window has been cleverly turned into a breakfast bar, occupied today by lone diners and piles of Sunday papers. The space is compact, the diners many and the staff busy, yet the atmosphere is relaxed and unhurried.

Settling down at our table we take in the surroundings: statement white lamp shades draw your attention to the high ceilings in the centre of the room while oversized unadorned light bulbs dangle over our heads, their orange elements glowing brightly. The interior is clever, the lighting creating an illusion of space where there is none, features like nifty coat hooks hiding under tables keeping clutter minimal.

The menu is a revelation. Ingredients like sumac, yuzu, miso and tamarillo sit alongside bacon, bread and oats. Pancakes of sweetcorn and blueberry (£8.80), baked beans with smoky molasses (£2.80) and perhaps the most intriguing of all the combinations – poached Turkish eggs with yoghurt and chilli butter (£6.20). Read on further and the choice becomes impossible so intriguing are the dishes.

Tumblers of strong rich coffee arrive, the frothy topping bearing the baristas arty signature. A pot of fragrant earl grey is accompanied by a tea cup into which a small milk jug has been snugly slotted, another space saver or perhaps just stylish after thought.

Our eagerly anticipated choices arrive and we are impressed. A generous slab of French toast (£8.80), stuffed with bananas and pecans, topped with plenty of streaky bacon and surrounded by a pool of vanilla syrup disappears in seconds. This indulgent combination takes the best from European and American classics and creates a satisfying winner.

Opaque flakes of hot-smoked salmon, layered with spinach and perfectly poached eggs on walnut toasted bread, dripping with yuzu-hollandaise (£10.40) is mouth watering (yuzu being an oriental citrus). Labelling this a variation on the ubiquitous Eggs Benedict does it no justice, the dishes may have similar origins but I belie any classicist to try this without undergoing instant modernisation.

And finally: a bowl of porridge. Not just any old oats but “brown rice, apple, maple syrup and miso porridge made using soy milk and served with tamarillo compote.”(£6) A description so pretentious I couldn’t resist it. This porridge is so ridiculous it doesn’t contain a single flake of oat and despite not wanting to like it, the verdict was good. The brown rice lent an unusual texture but the finished dish was creamy not rich, sweet not sickly and made fresh by the apple puree, though nearer to rice pudding than the menu description suggests.

As our squeaky clean plates were whisked away it became clear that a return trip was a necessity. This first visit was just a sample of a menu brimming with intriguing and innovative combinations. It updates and questions the classics and is not afraid to be provocative in doing so.

The clearest illustration of this restaurant’s nature though lies beside the boiled eggs: the toasted soldiers come with vegemite. Any restaurant on British soil ballsy enough to usurp marmite with its cousin from the subcontinent has to be worth a visit.

The Providores & Tapa Room
109 Marylebone High Street
London W1U 4RX
020 7935 6175
http://www.theprovidores.co.uk/

Noodle Noodle

The name isn’t great is it? It doesn’t really inspire you to go inside and test out their offerings. Take any other cuisine and it gets all the more ridiculous – a restaurant called ‘rice, rice’, ‘spaghetti, spaghetti’ or ‘pie, pie’ doesn’t work either but maybe I’m being unimaginative.

Name aside this oriental canteen just north of Victoria station is quite an exciting find. It’s the sort of place you walk past a hundred times without even thinking of going inside. Away from the lunch time chaos, it turns out it’s worth spending a pound or two more than you would in Eat or Pret for an excuse to sit down and chatter over bowls of spicy pad thai, chicken-katsu curry or ramen soup.

Big beakers of juice arrive at the table in record speed and after our order is taken generous portions of fragrant fodder follow close behind. My Tom-Yum soup (£5.95) comes in a cavernous china bowl. Fine rice noodles swim in flavourful spiced stock along with tender poached chicken, spring onions, bean sprouts and a chunk of lemon which leaves a tangy punch. On a cold day like today this is comforting, with a hangover it would be cleansing and really, there are few days that this classic concoction wouldn’t be well received.

Jess, who introduced me to this little place, has spicy fried chicken (£7.95)which arrives with sticky rice and a thick, weirdly bright, sauce. The crunchy crumbed fillet is well received though and judging by the empty plates flying back to the kitchen from all corners the chefs have got the lunch time formula pretty much spot on. Mountainous piles of wok fried noodles, plates of steaming dim sum and all sorts of soups magically disappeared all around us.

Noodle Noodle isn’t gourmet, the ingredients aren’t sourced from suppliers in rolling English valleys and there’s no way the waiters know the provenance of the chicken on your plate but it’s fresh, healthy, quick and satisfying. In comparison to the array of high street vendors offering their latest attention grabbing sandwich it beats them hands down.



Noodle Noodle
16-18 Buckingham Palace Road
London SW1W 0QP
020 7931 9911
http://www.noodle-noodle.co.uk/

Breakfast at Automat

Going out for breakfast usually leaves me feeling inspired, keen to chatter about my latest find with other restaurant lovers, or at least with an anecdote or two for a riveting review. Yesterday I left Automat feeling flat which says a lot about this American Brasserie in Mayfair, open since 2005, which professes itself as a “cultural exchange” between London and New York.

As my best breakfast buddy and I step into the café interior with its black and white floor tiles, our first impression is of Parisian chic, right down to the disinterested waiter who greets us grumpily from behind the bar. We are quickly led into the adjacent railway carriage style diner, seated in roomy booths, intimately lit with cute chrome reading lamps, and transported away from the early morning bustle of Mayfair.

The surrounding tables are occupied by smart local businessmen, presumably breaking transatlantic deals over their espressos and muffins, lending the room a buzzy atmosphere without being noisy. The compact menu seems promising with classic egg dishes, buttermilk pancakes, waffles, muffins and a full breakfast including fillet steak for those of ambitious appetite.

Being classicists and on the British side of the cultural exchange we both order egg dishes, and of course tea, and then watch with slight envy as a pile of pancakes is placed at another table.

Scrambled eggs and smoked salmon arrive quickly and are unfortunately substandard. Dry, pale eggs on quite acceptable toast, surrounded by a couple of slivers of relatively tasty smoked salmon. Sadly, it is no tastier than you could find in the fish section of your local supermarket. Knowing that in a renowned dining room, just across Piccadilly, a generous stack of Scottish salmon, buttery eggs and soft brioche will greet you for a similar price perhaps puts Automat at a disadvantage but it is one that they chose through default of location.

The American options on the menu: muffins, pastries, waffles and milkshakes served in elegant bulb glasses, are received warmly at the nearby tables and the baskets of baked goodies seem delightfully decadent so early in the day. Our large glasses of apple juice were tangy, fruity and refreshingly cold but the pots of stewing Twinings tea were disappointing considering their hefty price tag.

When it came to paying, spending ten minutes attempting to make eye contact with any of the three waitresses left us feeling a bit neglected, especially considering there were only six other tables of diners.

Automat’s opening website statement mentions nothing about food and we left with the sense that for both the people who frequent it and for those that run it, the style of the crockery is more important than the breakfast upon it. Which is a shame, because this well decked out and atmospheric brasserie has plenty of character, an enviable location and unrivalled milkshakes. Next time, I’ll cross the Atlantic divide and have pancakes.

Automat, 33 Dover Street, London W1S 4NF, 020 7499 3033
http://www.automat-london.com/

Picnics in the Park

Whatever the occasion make the venue outdoors in one of London’s many parks which all have something unique to offer.

Green Park – Post-work Picnic

After a day spent gazing through the office window at glorious sunshine, an impromptu after work gathering on the grass far surpasses a pit stop in the office boozer.

Green Park provides the perfect space for central London workers and provides a good stop off for anyone on their way to Victoria station or West London. It has the advantage of a park-side Marks and Spencer, just inside the tube station, which stocks everything you could need from plastic cutlery to sandwiches, sushi or mezze.
http://www.marksandspencer.com/encer.com/

Or if you fancy classic English fare and your wallet can be stretched, wander along Piccadilly and drop into Fortnum and Mason for a selection of nibbles any wicker hamper would be proud to house. Choose from perfect pork pies, terrines and cold meats in the basement delicatessen and find yourself helpless to resist the impressive array of condiments and savoury delicacies which have become synonymous with Fortnum’s.
http://www.fortnumandmason.com/


Hyde Park – All Day Weekend Grazing

A perfect antidote to that all too familiar weekend hangover, lazily lounging in the park is a fail safe way to relax and recharge the batteries. Being central and easy to get to, the open expanses of Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens make it easy for people to drop in throughout the day. And for the aquatic minded the rowing boats and pedalos on the Serpentine could provide the opportunity for a floating banquet.

The obvious pitfall is that everyone might arrive cradling the same pot of humus and bag of tortillas, so delegation is key. Essential equipment includes a frisby, the weekend papers and painkillers for those struggling to get over the previous nights antics.

Whole Foods, at the Kensington Gardens corner of the park, is a well known food-lovers Mecca and has an almost bewildering range of choice for any al fresco feast, but with a little bit more organisation this is the ideal opportunity to indulge in some culinary creativity and embrace the Tupperware boxes sadly resigned to the dusty top shelf.
http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/stores/kensington/

Regents Park – A Romantic Rendezvous

The picturesque rose gardens and topiary of Regents Park are an ideal setting for a romantic stroll while the surrounding tree spotted lawns offer plenty of secluded spots to throw a cashmere blanket. In the early evening sunshine picturesque Primrose Hill, to the north of the park, is a wonderful setting to share a bottle of something sparkling but remember that swigging from a full sized bottle is never seductive, this is not a time to forget the glasses. Finally you could complete the evening at the enchanting open air theatre which is showing productions throughout the summer, from Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing to Oscar Wilde’s Importance of Being Earnest.

En route to the park try and pass by La Fromagerie on Marylebone High Street which is home to all sorts of picnic possibilities such as classic continental charcuterie, juicy olives, sweet or savoury breads and as the name would imply a staggering collection of cheeses.
http://www.lafromagerie.co.uk/

The organically farmed pork sausages from the Honest Sausage cafe, halfway along the Broadwalk, may not make for elegant picnic food but are scrumptious all the same either in a bun or with buttery mash.
http://www.honestsausage.com/